Electronic vending machine management method

ABSTRACT

A method for centralized mass processing of substitutable, good-holding magazines used in conjunction with computer-controlled vending machines. A memory-chip-mounting smart-card is used, not only to enter into the machines the magazine location and price of the various goods, but also to carry a sales transaction record of the replaced magazine, thus avoiding the need for magazine locking mechanisms and other security measures.

PRIOR APPLICATION

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/682,777 filed Oct. 8, 2003, which is a divisional of Ser. No. 10/119,227 filed Apr. 8, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,495, which is a continuation-in-part of application. Ser. No. 09/666,038 filed Sep. 20, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,653, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/414,910 filed Oct. 8, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,958.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to vending machines, and more specifically to the type of vending machines with substitutable good-holding magazines.

BACKGROUND

Disclosed in this application's parent U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,653 Ruskin et al., which patent is specifically incorporated into this specification by this reference, is a type of vending machine using substitutable magazines. The magazines can be filled at a central location then distributed at a number of sites to be substituted for fully or partly expended magazines previously installed in vending machines. The referenced patent teaches a variety of mechanisms for securing the vending machines and guaranteeing the integrity of the magazine contents during transportation and installation, including the integrity of the currency taken as payments for dispensed goods and accumulated in the magazines. The referenced patent also teaches various methods and devices for keeping and processing records of sale transactions.

It is well-known in the vending industry that locks and other mechanical security measures are costly, sometimes awkward to operate and not always tamper-proof. A lost key or malfunctioning lock can cause substantial loss of time and necessitate the intervention of a locksmith. A stolen key can be used by unscrupulous person to get access to the vending machine.

SUMMARY

The principal and secondary objects of this invention are to provide a keyless process for guaranteeing the security of substitutable good-holding magazines used in connection with certain types of vending machines and of their contents; to provide an accurate and reliable record of all sale transactions; to allow quick and easy reprogramming of menus and prices for the goods available from a machine; and to automate the inventorying of goods and magazines.

These and other valuable objects are achieved by using a machine-readable recording medium, preferably a memory chip-mounting smart-card to program the location and prices of goods in a vending machine, to record the sale transactions, including the amount of currency collected in connection with a previously installed magazine that is being replaced, and to provide a fool-proof reconciliation between the contents of a returned magazine and those sale transactions.

Typically, a service person can visit up to sixty sites where one or more vending machines are being used. A medium-sized service truck can carry up to sixty snack food magazines and a corresponding number of beverage-holding canisters. It has been found that a single smart-card can store enough data to control all the machines on a route, i.e., machines that can be serviced by a truck team in a single day. While such a smart-card is the preferred machine-readable medium in the practice of the invention, other media such as palm-held and Internet connected devices can also be advantageously used. It is also possible to use one small-capacity smart-card in association with each magazine. In that case, the card can be physically carried in a slot pocket or other receptacle mounted on the magazine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the machine; and magazine processing method according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawing, there is illustrated in FIG. 1, a method for processing and controlling a vending machine operation based on the use of substitutable good-holding magazines that are refilled at a central processing location, then distributed along assigned routes for installation in vending machines at various users' sites in replacement for totally or partially expended magazines previously installed at those sites. Several embodiments of this type of vending machine are disclosed in the patent incorporated in this specification.

The method assumes and includes maintaining an inventory of salable goods that can be distributed by the vending machines. These goods typically include snack food items and beverages.

Machine menus are established 2 that specify what goods are to be loaded in each slot or pigeon hole in a magazine, and at what price each of those goods will be sold.

A stock of magazines is kept from which some of them are extracted and filled 3 according to some of the established menus. Each magazine is marked with a machine-readable identification code as well as menu code, preferably in bar code form, as well as in visually perceptible form. An inventory of such full magazines is maintained 5. A distribution route is established and a number of said full magazines are assigned 6 and appropriately earmarked for distribution along that route. The magazines, their menus, route assignment and the specific machines into which the magazines are to be installed are combined into a file that is recorded 7 on a memory chip-mounting smart-card for use by the service person assigned to service the route. The set of filled magazines is then transported 8 for installation into vending machines at the various user's sites.

Upon arrival at a user's site, the service person introduces a smart-card into the machine card-reading slot in order to enter into the machine 9 a password that will allow opening the machine and getting access to its substitutable, previously installed magazine. In order to safeguard the security of the machine against misuse of a stolen card, each vending machine is programmed to update its password 10 on a periodical basis, e.g., every evening. The finder of a lost card or an unscrupulous service person could not return to the site and use an outdated card to get access to the machine and to the currency receptacle of its substitutable magazine.

The machines are programmed to compile sales and payment data 11 including the amount of currency that has been received as payment for the distributed goods. According to the teachings of the incorporated patents, the vending machine can accept payment via a debit smart-card. It is therefore, critical, that the compilation of the payments provide a clear distinction between payments made by debit smart-card, currency, credit card or by other electronic medium. Debit smart-cards can be conveniently reloaded by depositing currency into the machine. The deposit is instantly credited by a corresponding amount of debitable fund. Accordingly, some of the currency accumulated in a substitutable magazine may not be attributed to the sale of goods, but to the reloading of a debit smart-card.

After entering the password which allows opening of the vending machine, the sale data accumulated by the vending machine is downloaded 12 onto the service person's smart-card. The downloading of the data associated with the previously installed magazine, that is being replaced and is to be returned to the processing location terminates the first half of the data processing associated with the magazine substitution. The machine, then, extracts 13 from the smart-card, the menu corresponding to the magazine that is about to be installed. The machine is now programmed to vend each item in the newly installed magazine upon a payment specified on the down-loaded menu. The menu preferably includes specifications and instructions for selling a combination of two items at a discount price. This feature may be used for promotional purpose, or to enhance sales during periods of low sale activity. The fully or partially expended and previously installed magazine is now replaced 14 with the full magazine. The former is returned 15 to the processing location.

Upon arrival at the processing location, the contents of the returned magazine is inventoried 16 and reconciled 17 with the sale data recorded on the service person's smart-card. Depending upon the expiration dates of the goods remaining in the magazine, the contents can be removed 18 and the magazine sanitized, or the goods that have been sold can be replaced 19 before the magazine is returned to the full magazine inventory. A magazine that has been emptied and sanitized is available for refilling 3. The sale data accumulated in the service person's smart-card can also be used, not only to update the salable good inventory, but also to generate 20 statistical sales data which may be useful in planning future magazine loading 3, restocking the salable goods inventory 1 and focusing promotional general marketing activities. For this purpose, the sale data is preferably indexed at the time of each sale with some time-related and location-related references.

A simple product control data processing program is advantageously used to integrate the filling of the magazine and the good-selling transaction accounts with the sellable good inventory.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described, modifications can be made and other embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. 

1. In a method for exploiting at least one vending machine installed at a vending site, said machine including: a magazine, said magazine having a plurality of slots, each of said slots holding a specific type of sellable good, means for electrically accumulating records of good-selling transactions, and means for assigning and displaying a specific selling price to each type of sellable good, an improvement which comprises: recording in a data storage implement, located remotely from said site, programming information including identities and locations of slots in said magazine and a price for each type of sellable good held in said slots; contemporaneously with the refilling of said machine, transmitting from said implement to said machine said programming information; and downloading from said machine and onto said implement accumulated records of good-selling transactions.
 2. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises using an Internet connection.
 3. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said information further comprises specifications and instructions for said machine to dispense a combination of different goods from separate slots at a discount price.
 4. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said step of recording said database comprises recording a machine opening pass-word.
 5. The improvement of claim 1, which further comprises opening said machine by reading said pass-word from said implement.
 6. The improvement of claim 1, which further comprises programming each of said machines to periodically require a modified pass-word.
 7. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing menus comprises listing a combination of at least two locations under a single price; whereby two goods may be dispensed by a machine at a discount price.
 8. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said steps of transmitting from and downloading onto said implement comprises transmitting from and downloading onto a smart-card.
 9. The improvement of claim 8, wherein said steps of transmitting from and downloading onto and reading from said medium comprises transmitting from and downloading onto a single smart-card for a plurality of said machines.
 10. A method for processing vending machines from a central location in connection with a plurality of vending sites, each site having at least one of said machines, each of said machines having a plurality of slots in a sellable good magazine and each of said slots holding a specific type of sellable goods, said method comprising the steps of: assigning to each machine an identification code; establishing a plurality of price-and-location menus for said machines, each of said menu listing the slot locations in a machine of a series of different goods and a sale price of each of said goods; keeping a record of each of said machines by identification numbers and related ones of said menus; at said central location: recording on a storage medium a route distribution database including machine identification codes, menus and site identification codes; at each of said sites and in at least one of said machines, compiling an account of good-selling transactions of goods previously installed in said machine; downloading from said machine and onto said medium, said compiled account; reading from said medium and writing into said machine, a price and location menu corresponding to said identification code including a type of goods in each of said slots and the price said type of goods is to be sold; refilling said machines in accordance with said menus.
 11. The method of claim 10, which further comprises: maintaining an inventory of said goods available for refilling said machines; and integrating said compiled account with said inventory.
 12. The method of claim 10 which further comprises: applying said identification code to said machine in a machine-readable form.
 13. In a method for exploiting at least one vending machine having means for electrically accumulating records of good-selling transactions and means for electronically accepting programming information assigning selling prices to different goods loaded in a plurality of dispensing locations, an improvement which comprises: recording on a machine-readable medium a database of machine programming information including an item price for each of said locations; causing said machine to read from said medium and to write into said machine said information; and downloading from said machine onto said medium accumulated records of good-selling transactions; wherein said steps of reading and recording comprise using an Internet connected device as said medium.
 14. A vending machine which comprises: a magazine having a plurality of slots for holding a diversity of sellable goods; a data processor programmed to assign sale prices to goods held in said slots, to compile an account of sales of goods out of said slots, to accept from an remote device menu instructions specifying said sale prices, and to unload said account to said device.
 15. The vending machine of claim 14, wherein said device comprises a public communication network. 